Canada rejects UPR's recommendation for an anti-poverty strategy

Tomorrow the Canadian government has to present its response to the recommendations arising from the Universal Periodic Review of Canada, held in February. Because Canada’s report is tabled in advance, the report is already public.

Canada is accepting 39 of the 68 recommendations, rejecting 14 and partially accepting 15. Unfortunately, among the recommendations they are rejecting are the ones on poverty and economic and social rights.

These include Recommendation 1: Ratify the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Recommendation 10: Recognize the justiciability of social, economic and cultural rights, in accordance with the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; ensure legal enforcement of economic, social and cultural rights in domestic courts; grant the same importance to and treat equally civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, in its legislation at all levels.

While it is disappointing that the government refused to recognize the extent of economic, social and cultural rights, it is not surprising since that has been the case all along.

What is surprising is that the government also rejected Recommendation 17: Develop a national strategy to eliminate poverty by arguing that poverty reduction falls under provincial jurisdiction. The federal government notes that four provinces already have poverty reduction strategies, while failing to add that several of these provinces have also said they need federal government support in order to make their strategies successful.

The response also claims that the federal government is supporting these measures through benefits targeting children, noting that the poverty rate among seniors, women and children has “fallen considerably in the past decade.” While this is true (at least for seniors and children, I can’t find any data on women with a quick search) the more interesting comparison is actually longer term.

The last decade has been a period of unprecedented economic growth in Canada. The poverty rate has fallen since the mid to late 1990s, along with the economic good times. Yet the poverty rate has not declined below the level it was at 30 years ago. The rate of child poverty in November was virtually unchanged from 1989, when the federal government pledged to eliminate it. While poverty declines in economic good times, it will take a much more concerted effort to truly lower the poverty rate below this thirty-year threshold.

On the other hand, seniors are Canada’s one success story. There is evidence that some seniors are still struggling – most notably elderly women living alone – but in general, seniors poverty has been greatly reduced over the past twenty years. The lesson to be learned here is that we can accomplish a lot towards eliminating poverty when there is sufficient political will to do so.

Canada did accept the recommendations on housing, which include adopting the recommendation of the Special Rapporteur and ensuring the right to adequate housing for vulnerable groups. The government also accepted a recommendation to “continue to address socio-economic disparities and inequalities that persist across the country.” So the government’s not totally disinterested in issues of economic equality – it just needs to be persuaded that it has a moral obligation to provide leadership.

It’s not too late to encourage the government to reconsider its response to the recommendations on poverty. The official announcement of the response welcomes feedback sent to the Department of Canadian Heritage, Human Rights Program, epu-upr@pch.gc.ca. Consider sending them a quick email today to let them know what you think!

The report of the Universal Periodic Review of Canada can be found here; recommendations begin on page 17. Canada’s response can be found here. CPJ's brief to the UPR is here.